1
Fresh from winning a Guinness Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year, Wales’ Rugby World Cup depth chart looks to be in ominously competitive shape.
ADVERTISEMENT
Without too many injuries affecting the camp at time of writing, Warren Gatland’s side look to be in a strong position to mount a significant bid for World Cup glory in Japan later this year.
Sitting in a pool with Australia and Fiji, however, qualification is far from secure for the men from west of the Severn, no matter how strong Wales’ depth chart looks from top to bottom.
If they can navigate the challenges that those two dangerous sides pose, as well as the threats of Georgia and Uruguay, picking up momentum in the process, then Wales will be a side that no one in the final eight will want to face.
Tomas Francis disrupts what could be an all-Scarlets front row for Wales, with the Exeter Chief having pushed his way ahead of Samson Lee over the last couple of seasons.
Ken Owens’ consistency and durability at two hides a talented group of hookers in Elliot Dee and Ryan Elias, while promising youngsters Rhys Carre and Leon Brown will need to impress in the World Cup warm-up games to be on the plane.
ADVERTISEMENT
Adam Beard has the edge on Cory Hill to partner Alun Wyn Jones in the engine room, with both having turned in very impressive 2018/19 seasons at regional and international levels.
The back row, as it so often is, is an area of real strength for Wales, where Justin Tipuric pips Aaron Wainwright and James Davies to the role of Sam Warburton’s successor, while starting blindside Josh Navidi also offers an option at openside should it be needed.
A fit-again Taulupe Faletau will be a scary proposition for opposition teams, with Ross Moriarty offering significant impact from the bench and/or an ability to also play at six, should Wales opt to go for a bigger and more powerful back row unit.
Tomos Williams handled himself well during the Six Nations, although it is not enough to see him leapfrog Gareth Davies as the starting nine, with Aled Davies rounding out the group as the third scrum-half.
ADVERTISEMENT
The battle between Gareth Anscombe and Dan Biggar continues for the 10 jersey, with Rhys Patchell an enviable third option. Jarrod Evans will have his work cut out trying to make the final 31-man squad, but injuries at fly-half or full-back could pave the way for him receiving a ticket to Japan.
Hadleigh Parkes and Jonathan Davies continue in the midfield, bringing their chemistry from the Scarlets to the mix, just as their backups, Owen Watkins and Scott Williams, do from the Ospreys.
There is no lack of options in the Welsh back three, where Liam Williams gets the nod at full-back over the reliable Leigh Halfpenny, creating space for George North and Josh Adams on the wings.
Halfpenny will have his mind set on winning back the 15 jersey and pushing Williams over to the wing, and Owen Lane will be hoping that his excellent season for Cardiff Blues helps propel him into the mix with Jonah Holmes, Hallam Amos and Steff Evans for one of the remaining squad spots in the back three.
WATCH: Part one of Operation Jaypan, the two-part RugbyPass documentary series on what the fans can expect at this year’s World Cup finals in Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments